Mullanpur (Punjab) [India], April 1 (ANI): Australian cricketer Cooper Connolly made a sensational Indian Premier League (IPL) debut for Punjab Kings (PBKS) against Gujarat Titans in Mullanpur, scoring an unbeaten 72 and earning a spot among the league's top debut performers.

Connolly's knock ranks as the fifth-highest individual score on an IPL debut. Leading the list is Brendon McCullum, who smashed 158* for Kolkata Knight Riders against Royal Challengers Bangalore (now Bengaluru) in 2008, followed by Michael Hussey's 116* for Chennai Super Kings versus Kings XI Punjab (now PBKS) and Shaun Marsh's 84* for KXIP against Deccan Chargers, both also in 2008.

Among more recent debutants, Kyle Mayers notched up 73 for Lucknow Super Giants against Delhi Capitals in 2023, just ahead of Connolly's 72* in 2026.

Meanwhile, ace leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal became the most prolific wicket-taker in IPL middle overs, claiming 138 wickets at an average of 25.34 during overs 7 to 15, according to CricViz.

Chahal, who scalped two-wickets against Gujarat, leads the list of highest wicket-takers in the middle phase, followed closely by Ravindra Jadeja with 136, Piyush Chawla with 132, Amit Mishra with 126, and Rashid Khan with 102 wickets in the IPL tournament.

After winning the Player of the Match award, Connolly spoke on getting his first taste of the IPL, saying that he was 'looking forward to getting the experience of playing with some world-class players'.

'To put on a show tonight was nice. But, it is a team performance; we played as a team tonight, and that's all we speak about. It is just a bit of a refresh. I had a couple of weeks at home (after the T20 World Cup), just a refresh and reset, spend some time with family and friends. And that was probably the point where I changed, and it was just like, yeah, okay, I am just gonna reset, and I am gonna go into the IPL fresh,' he added.

Speaking on his six-hitting, Connolly said that he is 'more of a tempo player' and does not try to hit too many sixes.'I like to sort of get a feel of the flow in my hands. Working with Ricky (Ponting, the PBKS coach) has been great. Just some slight tweaks have helped me out over these first five days. But looking forward to the rest of the tournament.

Connolly said that during the mini collapse courtesy of a stunning Krishna spell, 'not a lot was said and things felt relaxed'.

'We still felt like we were in a really good position to win the game. And, Marco was pretty calm, so was Xavier (Bartlett). I spent a lot of time with Xavier (his Australian teammate), so it is sort of nice to spend a bit of time with him and get a win. He had a massive smile on his face,' he concluded. (ANI)

Brief Scores: Gujarat Titans: 162/6 (Jos Buttler 39, Shubman Gill 38, Vijaykumar Vyshak 3/34) vs Punjab Kings: 165/7 in 19.1 overs (Cooper Connolly 72*, Prabhsimran Singh 37, Prasidh Krishna 3/29). (ANI)